Lessons from the Corinthian Church Part 10

In this podcast episode, the speaker discusses the importance of love and the use of spiritual gifts in the church. The message is based on the book of 1 Corinthians, specifically chapters 12, 13, and 14. The speaker emphasizes that the gifts of the Spirit are meant to edify and strengthen the body of believers, and that love should be the motivation behind their use. The speaker also explains the difference between a personal prayer language and the gift of tongues with interpretation, as well as the importance of sharing prophetic messages for the benefit of the church. Overall, the speaker encourages listeners to seek understanding and to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their worship services. Welcome to CCI Fellowship's Podcast, thank you for joining us. At CCI Fellowship, we are reaching God, reaching each other, and reaching our community. We pray that this week's message challenges you in your walk with the Lord, causes you to grow in your faith, and encourages you in your love for the Word of God. Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 14. Alright, getting back into our series on Lessons from the Corinthian Church. Can anyone guess what part we are on? It's probably up there already, yeah, never mind. We're in part 10 of this series, this is amazing. It's taken a while to get through it, but I want to remind you why we're going through these four chapters. We're going through because Paul is, at the beginning of chapter 11, he's answering for them some questions that they had sent him regarding the church service. They asked him questions regarding spiritual gifts. They asked him questions regarding order and what should or should not happen in the church. He comes to this topic, of course, chapter 12, he's talking about spiritual gifts, he's talking about the body that edifies itself, that the gifts are given for the edification of the body. That the gifts are in manifestation so that the body grows, so that the body is healthy, so that the body is ministered to. And then he goes into chapter 13 where he ends 12 by saying, Yet I show you a better way, in other words, a way to employ these gifts that we are given by the Spirit. It's not just that we are to flow in the gifts of the Spirit or that they are to be present within our congregation, within our body, but that the way that the gifts are supposed to flow is through love. We are to love one another and thus be willing to be used by the Holy Spirit in the gifts that he's given us. He doesn't negate the gifts by talking about love, but provides for us a framework through which the gifts are supposed to manifest. In these first five verses of chapter 14, he says pursue love and desire spiritual gifts. In the New Living Translation, it says, Let love be your highest goal, but you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives, especially the ability to prophesy. For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won't be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish that you could all prophesy, for prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying, so the whole church will be strengthened. Let's pray. Father, we magnify you and we thank you for your presence here with us. We thank you for the anointing that is on this service and the desire of the Holy Spirit to minister to us today. Father, we lend our ears to you, our eyes to you, our hearts to you. And Father, we may hear what the Spirit wants to say, see what your word says, and receive what you want to implant in us, Lord God, so that we may draw closer to you. Give us understanding, give us revelation, in Jesus' name, amen. Now Paul takes this chapter, this section of his letter to the Corinthians, to really lay out for them what a church service is supposed to look like. Now we're only going to get through the first five verses, but as we go through this chapter, you'll see that near the end Paul says, so this is how it ought to be. And this chapter is a culmination of what he started in chapter 11. Having said all of these things, this is how your services should be. Now remember the themes that we have said are present in each of these chapters, unity, order, love, sacrifice, knowledge, in other words, instruction. These are five things that are consistent throughout all four chapters, and so as we read through this chapter, I'm not going to tell you where they are. I want you to look for them, to be attentive. Obviously when we talk about love, it's within the first couple words of this chapter, so that one's easy to find. The five are unity, unity in the body, order in the church service, love as the motivation, sacrifice, because sometimes it requires things of us we may not want to do, and knowledge or instruction. He answers these questions that they have in order that they may move forward as a body fully instructed. Chapter 12 starts out with, I don't want you to be ignorant. I don't want you to be unlearned. I don't want you to lack knowledge. This chapter, out of the whole New Testament, like I said, gives us the most complete view of what a service should look like that we're going to get through the New Testament. Why is it that way? I think that we don't have as much explanation as we would want when it comes to our gathering together, because we as humans have a tendency to create formulas and patterns, and when this happens, this happens. When this happens, that happens. If the Spirit didn't leave a little bit of ambiguity to it, we wouldn't follow the Spirit. We wouldn't listen for Him. We would get the pattern down and then be like, okay, we got this. We don't need God. We know how to do church. We have been in churches that know how to do church. They are professional at doing church services, and there's absolutely no life of the Spirit in their services, because they have come to a place where they got it all down. It's in the handbook. It's in the instructions. We know how to do it, but what they leave out is allowing the Holy Spirit to have His way and do what He wants to. Now in these first 25 verses, He talks about prophecy, and He talks about speaking in tongues. As we read through the verses, I'm going to read through them again, because what Paul does for us here, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the believers in the upper room. They went out of the upper room, speaking in tongues, and the people in the city understood them. They heard them in their own language, it says. We're going to find here that Paul explains that what happened in that moment, it says in Acts, that they heard them giving praise to God. They didn't hear them giving them instructions, giving them this or that. They heard them giving praise to God. So what Paul does for us in this section of Scripture is he gives us insight into the difference between the prayer language of tongues, which happened on the day of Pentecost, and what he talks about in chapter 12 as the gift of tongues that needs to be coupled with interpretation. Are you with me? Are you scared? That's good. I've preached on this before, and it has been a very difficult environment sometimes. But the one thing that God gave us to help us as we talk about these things is this statement. Truth taught badly doesn't negate truth. Do you need me to say that again? Truth taught badly doesn't negate truth. In other words, we can look at church history and we can see absolutely horrific examples of what people have done in the name of Christ. But that doesn't mean that it was actually Christ. We can see churches where the gifts of the Spirit were in operation in a really weird and wacky way, but that doesn't mean that that was actually the Spirit. We can also see churches that adamantly preach against the gifts of the Spirit. But again, that's not what Scripture says. At the end of this chapter, Paul very clearly says, do not forbid speaking in tongues. Allow prophecy and do what is necessary in love to edify the church. So we hold on to this, truth taught badly doesn't negate truth. So where does that lead us? It leads us to the place of saying, okay, Holy Spirit, teach me, help me to understand. It leads us to the place of, does what I believe line up with your words? So either confirm that what I believe lines up with your word or I submit it to you for you to bring correction to me so that I can live according to your word. So one of the things that Paul does in the first half of this chapter is he explains the validity of tongues as a prayer language for personal edification, the validity of prophecy for corporate edification, and the validity of the gift of tongues with interpretations for corporate edification. So as we read through this again, you're going to see that I've placed a PL or a C in these different verses. PL means prayer language and C means corporate. So what Paul does for us is he gives value to a personal prayer language in the Spirit of tongues. He tells us what it is good for, but he also gives us the environment in which to use it. Then he tells us that prophecy is good, a message in tongues with interpretation is good, but also gives us the environment in which it is good. So if during the service somebody else is up here preaching and I just all of a sudden start praying in tongues very loudly, is that going to be something that helps the congregation? No. It may help me, but it doesn't help the congregation, it just creates confusion and disorder. In the same way, if I'm at home praying and the Lord gives me a message that I'm supposed to share to the congregation, something prophetic that edifies and encourages and builds up, and I don't do that, then that prophetic word or that message of encouragement bears no fruit whatsoever because I've kept it to myself. Although it was given to me in private, if I don't share it, it's of no benefit. So God both gives us something to benefit us in private and he works through us something to benefit in the corporate. So let's read this again. Let love be your highest goal, but you should also desire. Now there are those who get to chapter 13 and they erase chapter 12 and chapter 14 because well, you know, love is what it's all about, but those aren't the instructions. Let love be your highest goal, but you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives, especially the ability to prophesy. Now people get kind of wacky here, there's a C there because it's corporate. Both things are to be sought after, to love and out of that love to be used by the Spirit through his gifts. People get really kind of funky sometimes when the gifts of the Spirit flow through them, especially when it's prophecy because they're, well, I gave a prophetic word. Well guess what? Whoop-dee-doo. We find in this chapter where Paul says, all may prophesy, we kind of put a status symbol on each of the gifts of the Spirit. God doesn't. And we think of ourselves sometimes, we can get led into a place of pride whenever the Spirit uses us, thinking that it is us, that we possess the gifts. But remember what we've talked about, it's the Holy Spirit that gives the gift, it's his gift, it's not ours. We are simply the vessel doing what we're instructed to do. So Paul says love, but also desire the gifts that the Spirit gives, especially the ability to prophesy. So what I see in this is that prophecy can be looked at as the most common gift that somebody can be used in. Now verse 2, verse 2 says, for if you have the ability to speak in tongues, that is a personal prayer language, you will be talking only to God, since people won't understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. Now look at what it says about tongues. It's by the power of the Spirit. It's given by Him. John 7, 38 says, anyone who believes in me may come and drink, for the Scripture declares that rivers of living water will flow from his heart. This language is empowered by the Holy Spirit, but what is it for? It's to talk to God. It opens up another level of communication with the Father. It opens up another deeper level of intimacy with God, because it's not our minds praying, it's our Spirit that is praying. And in the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, in our Spirit, little s, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are able to speak the mysteries of God. We are able to worship God in a deeper way, because it doesn't come out just out of our intellect, and the words that we have learned, however many languages we know how to speak on this earth, it comes from deep within us. It comes from our spirits. I was talking to one guy about these verses, he was asking, but he wasn't really interested in learning, he was interested in proving his point. And he said, well, I don't need edification, I want to edify other people, so why do I need to pray in tongues to edify myself? And I said, well, you can't edify somebody else if you yourself are not edified. If you're not filled up, I don't want what you're giving out, because it's going to be corrupted, it's going to be rotten. If we are going to edify in the corporate, we need to spend the time in the private to edify ourselves. And an incredible way that the Holy Spirit has given us to do that is the prayer language of tongues. Verse 3 says, The one who prophesies, that's in the corporate setting, strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. Strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. So what is the point of prophecy? To strengthen, encourage, and to comfort. That's what prophecy is. Very plain and simple. There are those who have boiled prophecy down to just preaching. Prophesying and preaching, they're the same thing. OK, well, scripture makes a differentiation between the two. But he gives us, again, a framework through which prophecy is supposed to happen. It's to happen for the strength of others, to encourage others, and to comfort others. Well, what is prophecy, then? It's God, the Holy Spirit, putting in you a timely word to go to somebody and say this and this and this. God loves you. God knows what you're going through, that this is a difficult time, and his Spirit wants to comfort you, and whatever the Spirit gives you to say. That is the purpose of prophecy. And in a corporate setting, it is to encourage the body as a whole. God may give you something to tell a person, but he may give you something to tell all of us. Well, I couldn't do that. I couldn't stand up and say those things. Well, lucky for you in our congregation, we have a way around that. If the Lord has put something on your heart to share, come to me or one of the elders and tell them first. It provides confirmation, because the Spirit will never tell just one person. Scripture says multiple times in the mouth of two or three, let everything be established. So it provides confirmation. It also provides an opportunity for you to grow in being used by the Holy Spirit. If you come to me and say, I really feel like this is what the Holy Spirit wants to share with the congregation, then God's going to let me know, because I'm the pastor, he's not going to blindside me by you giving a message. So he's going to give confirmation, and then I can say, that's great, I think that's of the Spirit. Do you want to share it, or do you want me to share it? And we can grow together for the benefit of the body. Now there are prophetic words that come into the aspect of correction, where God will speak things that bring correction to the body, but those words will come through the person that is authorized to bring correction to the body. Not just anybody. We have a framework. We have parameters. We have what things are supposed to look like described here, to encourage, to edify, and to comfort. That's what prophecy is for. I remember, just to give you an example, we spent six months in Guatemala doing missionary training, and the first time that we were at our home church, I had felt the Lord had given me a word of correction for our home church. I went and told the pastor about it, and I said, you're the pastor, what do you want to do with this? And he said, well, you know, I don't think you're the one to deliver this. You're just back, these people supported you, they want a report of what you've been doing. It wasn't the moment for me to give it, nor did I have the authority to give it, because I was just a member of the church. And eventually that same word got delivered to the congregation, through somebody who had the authority to do it. Well, why did God let me in on it? So that I could go to the pastor and say, this is what I feel from the Spirit, and let him pray about it, and decide with the Holy Spirit when the opportunity was to give it. The prophecy given in the congregation by congregants is to strengthen, encourage, and bring comfort. Now, verse 4, a person who speaks in tongues, prayer language, is strengthened personally. But one who speaks a word of prophecy, corporately, strengthens the entire church. The one who prays in tongues, personally, is strengthened. So there's a place for both. I woke up this morning, I put on some music, I spent an hour praying in tongues. Why? So that I would be edified, and built up, and encouraged, so that when I came and stood before you to deliver this message, I wasn't delivering it from a place of being exhausted. I wasn't delivering it from a place of not being prepared, and not being connected with the Holy Spirit. Then it would be a word that has no effect. But when we are edified ourselves, don't wait until church starts to get edified. Begin to prepare your heart before you come to service. So that when we step into this context, and we step into this environment, we can step into a place where God is ready to use us, and we are ready to be used, so that we can edify, encourage, and comfort each other. I hope somebody's getting something from this. This is probably the first time that I've preached this that I have so thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm getting blessed by it. I hope that's coming to you. Verse 5 is the key verse. It's the key verse to the first 25 verses in this chapter. Paul says, I wish you could all speak in tongues. That is, I wish you all had a prayer language. I think that gives us a clear understanding that it's a desire for the church as a whole, for each individual, not something reserved only for the apostles, not something reserved only for Paul, not something that died off with John when he died on the Isle of Patmos. It was something given for the whole church. In fact, the whole of the New Testament, well, not the whole, from Acts on, is all written in the context of a believer having the fullness of the Holy Spirit inside of them. It was for everybody. And Paul said, I wish you could all speak in tongues. That is, have this personal prayer language to be edified by. But even more, I wish you could all prophesy. That is, corporately. So we have him saying, I wish you could, in the personal, be edified. But even more, I wish you could prophesy. And a lot of people will take that verse and they'll go, well, Paul negates that first part in favor of prophecy. Apparently the people that are arguing this verse don't even believe in prophecy, either. But Paul says clearly, I wish you all would pray in tongues, so that you may be edified personally, so that your spirit may be speaking the mysteries of God, so that in the Spirit you will be able to worship God. But in the corporate setting, I desire that you would prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues. Again, people isolate that little phrase. And they miss, unless someone interprets what you are saying. So that the whole church will be strengthened. So prophecy, corporately, is better than a prayer language in tongues, whenever we are in the corporate setting. Unless what is in operation is what Paul refers to in chapter 12, when he says variety of tongues and interpretations. At that point in time, there is a place for tongues in the corporate setting, whenever there is interpretation. And so we see Paul's heart here. Starting in chapter 12, I desire that you not be ignorant concerning these things. And he gets to this place where he says, I desire that you all would be able to pray in tongues for personal edification. But then that would lead to prophetic utterance in the corporate, so that the body may be edified. I'd tell another story, but I'm already five minutes over when I said I would stop. So come back next week, and we will continue in this chapter. Amen? Let's stand together. As the worship team comes, I want to encourage you, as we go through this chapter, please, please, come with a heart that is open to the Holy Spirit, so that you see what the word of God says, and so that he speaks to you. I am one who, when I'm preaching, I don't want people to do what I say just simply because I said it. I want them to follow it because it's the word of God, and the Holy Spirit puts that conviction in their heart. So I encourage you, in these times, as we're going through this chapter, to have your heart open and let the Holy Spirit speak to you. Amen? Thank you for listening to this week's podcast. If you are ever in the Cagoosa-Culpa area and looking for an English-speaking congregation, please join us on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. in the main auditorium of the Glacia CCI in Colonio Trepici, Chisop Boulevard, Cuyahoga, near Una. If you'd like prayer or more information about our church, contact us at fellowship.uci.gmail.com. That's fellowship.uci.gmail.com. Or follow us on social media. We hope to see you or hear from you soon. Blessings. Thank you.